In chemical microanalyses one obtains the percentage of each element:



.....A..............B...................C.................D..............E..............F
Element.....Percentage.....Atomic_Weight...Ratio......New_Ratio.....Formula

Carbon........50.83..............12.01............4.23..........1.67............5
Hydrogen......8.53...............1.008............8.46..........3.33..........9.99.(=10)
Oxygen.......40.64................16...............2.54..........1.00............3

The figures in Column B are returned by the microanalyst. Dividing them by the Atomic Weight of the element (Column C) gives a ratio (Column D). We need to turn these numbers into integers, as the molecule being analysed must have an integral number of each atom within it. The standard way to do this is to divided by the smallest ratio (2.54 in this example), giving a new set of ratios (Column E) in which the smallest number must be 1.00, and then to find the formula (Column F) by trial and error. In this case the simplest solution is C5,H10,O3, and the molecule analysed is therefore (C5,H10,O3)n, where n is an integer. This example is trivial, but not all conversions of Column E into Formula F are simple or obvious.

I need an Excel formula that will convert figures in Column E into integers with the lowest possible values. The 'integers' can probably be +_ 0.03 of an integral value to account for errors in the microanalyses.

Thanks for any assistance.